Mexico, just like many other countries in the world, has seen a recent surge of COVID-19 cases since the Delta variant made its mark earlier this year.

Recently, this week, Mexico broke a record with over 3 million COVID cases since the start of the pandemic, according to data reported by CNN. About as many people are dying from the virus as in the United States.

The reason is because a growing number of young adults and youth are hesitant to receive the vaccine due to ongoing conspiracy theories, fear of possible side effects, and misinformation spreading across various social media platforms.

That misinformation has even been spread by national figures, like Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez.

Many Mexico City residents still believe the theory he spouted.

"The (young) people have been more in contact and, for some reason, believe more and follow these groups more,” Laurie Ann Ximénez-Fyvie, investigator of the molecular genetics laboratory at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) told Reuters.

Ximénez-Fyvie also said that anti-vaccine organizations and groups are “extremely harmful” to residents of Mexico.

"In Mexico anti-vaxxers have had more influence on the younger age group,” she said. 

One local from Mexico Reuters reported on, Eduardo Espinola, a local nutritionist who stated his reasoning for not wanting to receive the vaccine was because of, “certain side effects that it may have.”

So far, only 22.9% of Mexico’s population have received both doses of the vaccine. 

Government officials are hoping that with more vaccines being shipped from the United States, more people will be encouraged to get vaccinated.

Just last Monday, the White House announced it will send Mexico 8.5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines as the Delta variant continues to make its way through North America.

U.S. government officials say the United States will send more doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna. 

AstraZeneca has not yet been FDA approved in the United States, even though the company has distributed millions of its vaccines to countries outside of the states. Moderna has not yet been approved by Mexico.

In June, the U.S. government sent Mexico more than 1.3 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while cases that month were decreasing.

Although there is a spike in COVID-19 cases in Mexico, officials have yet to ban travel in and out of the country. The CDC requires travelers to provide a negative COVID-19 test prior to air travel on their way back to the United States.